Cat spraying is animal's way of conveying message

Rich Pedroncelli/AP photoDr. Sophia Yin, executive board member of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, is seen with Dante at her home in Davis, Calif., on Aug. 15. When Yin rescued Dante, she discovered he had spraying problems.

LOS ANGELES — Cats that spray are most likely communicating distress rather than misbehaving, so piling on more anxiety through punishment is counterproductive, veterinarians said.

“It’s like graffiti, scented graffiti,” said San Francisco Dr. Sophia Yin, executive board member of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.

The first line of defense against the odorous habit is to spay and neuter cats when they’re young. Assuming a cat has been altered and has no health problems, spraying is a sign of stress and it’s up to you to figure out the cause, Yin said.

Are there changes in the household? Is a new boyfriend spending a lot of time at your place, did your hours at work change suddenly, did a member of the household die or is there a new pet around?

“A cat will spray when its feeling threatened or thwarted. The thing is to try to get inside the cat’s head,” said Carolyn Waggoner, who just retired from the Yolo County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Persian and Himalayan Cat Rescue of Northern California.

Newborns, of the human variety, are especially tough on cats, said Waggoner, who has been counseling cat owners for decades. “The whole house is unsettled with the arrival of a newborn. There are different noises, different smells, different activity levels. Cats are creatures of habit. They like predictability and they don’t like change.”

The addition of another pet can have the same effect, she said.

“You want a friend for your cat but does your cat want a friend? Everything depends on the cat’s personality,” she said. “It would be like somebody choosing a roommate for you in a room you could never get out of.”

Cats most likely to spray are unsterilized males but about 10 percent of neutered animals also have spraying issues, Yin said. Female cats can spray as well, she said.

Arlene Salassi, a shelter attendant at the Upland Animal Shelter, east of Los Angeles, said all kittens there are spayed or neutered when they reach 2 pounds, long before sexual maturity, when spraying can start.

The first line of defense against spraying should be cleaning the litter box. Cats don’t like citrus or mint, so clean with soap and water, Waggoner said.

After that, clean the box once every two to four weeks if you use clumping litter and more often if you are using clay, Yin said. Also make sure there are enough litter boxes in the house. There should be one box for every cat, plus an extra, she said.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, you might try what Yin calls a “litter box cafeteria.”

Put four boxes next to each other and try to figure out what the cat wants. A box can be too high, too low, too short, too long, too visible, too close to a wall or too close to the cat’s food, Yin said. Litter or the liner might be too scented, too thick, too thin, too clumpy or too dusty.

As a rule, Yin said a box should be 1.5 times the cat’s body length and litter should be deep enough that a ruler will stand up in it and a cat can dig nicely.

If a cat is arthritic, it may be having trouble getting into the box, so you might need to cut it lower. If your cat is too chubby, Yin suggests using a sweater box instead of a litter box. If there are multiple cats, there could be privacy issues for some.

If outdoor animals are bothering your indoor cat, it might spray near windows or doors. Try covering up the windows or doors so your cat can’t see out, or get a motion activated sprinkler that will make noise and squirt an intruding cat without hurting it, Yin said.

You also might have to stop feeding birds, get rid of raccoons or put up a fence that will keep other animals out, Waggoner said.

If you have several cats and you don’t know which one is spraying, separate them for a day or two to figure it out.

You also have to clean up the urine, Yin said. “You need a type of product that doesn’t mask it but degrades it,” she said.

She uses a product called “Anti-Icky-Poo.” It sells online for about $20 a quart.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals warns against cleaning up with ammonia-based cleaners. Urine contains ammonia, so cleaning with ammonia can draw your cat back to the same spot to spray again.

If a cat is spraying the furniture, you can cover it with plastic or tin foil.

Waggoner suggested a motion activated can of air (SSScat sells for around $30 online) to keep animals away from drapes or furniture. “That way the cat doesn’t associate the air with you,” she said.

Yin trains all of her cats to sit “so they know some appropriate behavior for getting attention and interacting,” she said. “A lot of stressed cats are timid, so if they learn to perform tricks or other behaviors, they are building some confidence,” she said.

Punishment won’t work, Waggoner said.

“The worst thing you can do is punish a cat for spraying. You don’t want it to be afraid of you in addition to all its other woes,” she said.

Never rub your cat’s nose in the urine, throw anything at your cat, scream or yell.

If you have tried everything and still haven’t unraveled the message, there is a product called Feliway that encourages your cat to mark by rubbing its head instead of spraying. Used by many shelters, it is described by the manufacturer as a synthetic version of the feline facial pheromone used by cats to mark their territory.

If nothing you do works, your cat might need anti-anxiety medication, Yin said. “There are some animals who can’t cope on their own.”